As soon as I touch the soil, I am energized.
I am ready to take on the next task. ~ Tanya Spandhla
A
fter hearing again and again
from a growing number of es-
tablished and aspiring farmers
that the single greatest chal-
lenge to farming in Montgomery
County is the lack of access to
affordable acreage, Montgomery Countryside Al-
liance (MCA) began exploring ways our nonprofit
might help. Luckily, local producer, Vermont trans-
plant and MCA board member Shannon Varley had
previous experience with a program called New
England Land Link. Its premise was pretty simple:
create a user-friendly online platform for landown-
ers willing to lease/ lend farmable acreage to con-
nect with farmers searching for land.
In 2011 Land Link Montgomery was launched,
and with the steady administration of MCA staffer
Kristina Bostick, the program has successfully con-
nected farmers to land on over 450 acres in the
County. And while the program’s concept seems
fairly simple, as things generally go, the details
can be less so. Kristina helped Tanya connect with
a physician’s small acreage in Olney. The match
worked very well until the hungry local geese and
deer population began devouring more than their
fair share of her produce. The best solution for
Tanya was to relocate on another farm. Ultimately,
she was paired with Edgewood, the Becker family
farm in the Laytonsville area. It was 2015 and Tanya’s
Passion to Seed Farm was born.
Helping farmers like Tanya Spandhla has been
deeply satisfying. The success of the program is
more than the numbers of acres linked or the dollars
earned by each farmer, though those are central
goals. The initiative attracts farmers to the County
who have ultimately launched or expanded busi-
nesses but also, importantly, have strengthened our
rural community. New producers bring new ideas,
products and energy. Tanya, for example, grows
specialty crops from Africa that are sought after not
only from members of the local immigrant com-
munity but also by the growing diverse tastes of re-
gional palettes. Kiwano, or horned melon, pumpkin
leaves and a corn cultivar are Tanya’s cash crops and
she cannot grow enough to meet the desire. She has
also signed up to supply produce to Manna’s Com-
munity Food Rescue program which connects farm,
restaurant, and store overages to communities in
need. And, remarkably, Tanya actively serves on both
Montgomery County Food Council and Montgomery
Countryside Alliance boards.
We want to keep the land in farming.
~ Frances Becker
This past March, just about five years after their
match, Tanya, father and daughter John and Fran-
ces Becker, and I met to talk about how the program
was working for them. Greeted amiably by Vivian
the cat, we sat together in the parlor of the historic
1780 farmhouse. The longevity of the place, carefully
preserved but joyfully lived in, spoke to the family’s
mission. I had questions. Had the program fulfilled
expectations? Did they have advice for others?
Frances, ninth generation on the farm, was quick to
note that she really had no expectation other that
she wanted the farm to continue to farm. The larger
portions of the 180-plus acre farm have been leased
for years to commodity producer Drew Stabler.
There was good land, two flat acres adjacent to the
Tanya, father and daughter John and Frances Becker with
Vivian the cat.
plenty I autumn harvest 2019
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